Magical Redemption

by Jaliza A. Burwell

  I contemplated that for a moment. “The ones who spend a lot of time out in Nature usually say we raped her.”

  Elliot nodded. “I can see that. Feel it too, sometimes, when I go camping.”

  “You’ve never spoken about your father. What was he like? Why camping?”

  Elliot looked uncomfortable, and I tried to backtrack. “If you don’t want to talk about him, I totally understand. You can always just tell me to stop being so nosy.”

  “No.” Elliot shook his head. “It’s not that. I just haven’t had someone to talk about it with for so long. My adoptive parents are great, but my dad was never a conversation I had with them. You surprised me asking, is all.” He rubbed at his chin. “My dad was an office man, but whenever he could, he dragged me out for adventures on the weekends. He said it was his way of de-stressing. And he liked to make them as educational as possible. I know all my camping tricks because of him. He’d take me into the woods and we’d just walk until we got lost. Or at least until I was.”

  Elliot chuckled at the memory. “He’d take us off the trails and do twists and turns until I had no idea where we were. Then he’d tell me to lead us back. Early on, we usually ended up spending the whole weekend there because I could never find my way back and he never gave me any hint or help in that regard. He’d just raise an eyebrow and shrug if I asked him.”

  I smiled big enough for my cheeks to hurt at his story. “He sounds fun.”

  “He was.”

  Elliot continued to go on about his dad, telling me stories, most of them great, some of them sad. It was hard not having a female in the house, not having a mother, and Elliot’s dad had never bothered with dating.

  I would have been content to listen to all the stories he had about his father, if a sense of urgency hadn’t suddenly washed over me. One moment, I was fine, the next, I wanted to claw at my skin.

  Anxiety pulsed underneath my skin and buzzed in my ear. The air thickened, and all my senses were going crazy, trying to tell me something was very wrong at that very moment, and if I didn’t act soon, it’d be too late.

  But what? What was wrong? How was I supposed to react?

  “Let’s head back,” I said and grabbed Elliot’s arm. Before he could respond, I tugged him back the way we’d come, heading back to the park.

  My heart sped up and there was a small voice within telling me to move faster. Time was ticking, we weren’t going to make it. Desperation clogged my throat. I picked up my speed into a light jog.

  “Laila, what’s wrong?” Elliot asked, easily keeping pace with me.

  “Something is wrong. Something is really, really wrong.”

  “What? What is?” Elliot tried to get me to stop, but I just let his arm go and broke out into a run. My breathing grew heavy, not because of the running, but because I choked on the air. It was so thick, full of magic. The heavy blanket pressed down on me.

  “No,” I whispered. Whatever was going on was starting and we were too far away. “Elliot.” I glanced back at him.

  He couldn’t feel it, but he trusted me and by his hard expression, was just as determined to get back as I was. “We need—”

  The air in my lungs disappeared, and I gasped, clawing at my chest as I fell to the ground.

  “Laila.” Elliot’s voice sounded distant, on the other side of a tunnel as everything within me burned. I fought it, screaming, wishing for it to end. A presence entered me and scoped around, trying to steal what it could of my magic.

  No. Someone was a thief.

  No.

  “No!”

  I curled into myself and metaphysically gripped my magic. The unknown entity tugged, grabbing what it could. So much. It just kept collecting and collecting, even as I yanked and pulled to keep what was mine.

  Mine. It was mine, and I’d never learned to share. No way in hell was I going to learn now.

  With renewed determination, I yanked hard. I pulled and when I could, lashed out at whatever it was that had permeated my body.

  Finally, the invader snapped, the connection between us breaking. It still ran off with some of my magic, but at least I was alive and I still had some left in me.

  “Laila.” Elliot held my head in his lap, a phone tucked between his shoulder and neck. “You’re back.” Relief washed over his face. “What happened? Is it your head?” His concern for me was heartwarming, and I tried to smile. Unfortunately, my body didn’t want to work yet.

  A deep voice rumbled through the phone. Elliot listened intently. Before he could respond, I sat up.

  “We need to get back to the park,” I said and tried to get to my feet. My head pounded and my legs didn’t want to work. I didn’t care. They’d work because I needed them to. My chest ached at the stolen magic. But that was fine. I’d be okay. I couldn’t say the same about anyone else.

  The problem was I hadn’t been singled out. It had felt like a blanket attack on the whole area, and that was bad. Really bad. The enormity of the possible destruction was chilling. I didn’t want to acknowledge what happened to a magic-user who lost their magic. I didn’t want to think about how the body weakened, the mind broke down, and the user was left as a shadow of who they used to be, mindlessly relying on everyone else to take care of them.

  Death would be better.

  Pushing my thoughts away, I made my legs work, ignoring Elliot’s protests. But the victims were all I could see. The blank eyes, sallow skin, the emptiness. I’d once touched an older man who had been stripped of his magic. There was a deep emptiness in him, an entire area that was meant to be flowing with magic and without it was just empty. It felt wrong, and I’d had nightmares for so long.

  With his face in mind, I ran, stumbled, and ran some more. My eyes burned because I knew the truth. I knew.

  My fears were verified when I wobbled into the clearing and saw the chaos. A few people moved, desperately trying to get others to do the same. I couldn’t hear their pleas over my own devastation and shock, but by the expression on people’s faces, there was a lot of crying. There had been twenty people in the park. Seven of them were standing and moving. Screaming. The other thirteen lay on the grass, eyes open, expressions blank.

  “No…” I cried and fell to my knees, gagging.

  Whatever attacked them had taken it all. I could feel the lack of magic. Everything felt so hollow, not just the people, but the earth, the air, even the breeze. It all felt empty. Whoever had done this not only destroyed the people, but also scarred the area. We’d talked about Nature being raped, and that was exactly what happened. Someone just raped thirteen people and the land.

  “Laila, what’s going on?” Elliot asked in a tight voice.

  I didn’t answer. The crying survivors answered for me. A tragedy happened.

  And Nature agreed with me as the sky opened up and the rain fell.

  Chapter Nine

  I’d been curious what the enforcers had been hiding in the blackout wards blocking the streets, but I never thought I’d be inside one. Shadows moved around the outside as the enforcers gathered and came up with a game plan, leaving us quarantined inside.

  I didn’t want to know this way, with all the pain and misery around me as people mourned. Something sharp and sour settled deep in my stomach. Nausea built up as I gaped at everyone. I was probably in shock.

  The light drizzle was enough to dampen our clothes. It added to the devastation as the sky rumbled to match the wailing of those around us.

  A little girl shook a woman’s hand, trying to get her attention, but the woman just stood there after being pulled to her feet. Tears flowed down the little girl’s pale cheeks, her big honey-colored eyes begging for her aunt’s attention.

  My heart broke more and more as I took in each person, their devastated reactions. Elliot stayed at my side, his shoulder brushing mine, but he didn’t say anything. When I glanced at him, my heart ached at his expression. He was just as lost and confused as me, and everyone else, was.

  Underneath th
at was a fury I’d never seen from him before. Angry gray eyes scanned the area, a storm brewing inside them, intensifying the more he took in each person and the situation they were in.

  Seven people survived the onslaught because they hadn’t had a drop of magic in them. Four were kids, three were adults. The others weren’t as lucky. I glanced at Elliot. Full human. Relief surged through me. He could have been like everyone else in the park, a blank husk of a being. I reached out and grabbed his hand, squeezing it tight as my eyes burned with unshed tears. I could have lost him. That tore through me.

  “Laila?” he asked and finally turned to me. His eyes widened as he pulled me into his chest. I buried my face in his sweater, comforted by his scent. Elliot smelled of a fresh ocean breeze, which I’d always thought was interesting because we didn’t live near an ocean.

  I’d only seen it once in my life, and I didn’t want to go again. Not because it wasn’t a wonderful sight; the ocean was devastatingly beautiful. The issue was that like the forest around us, it was just as dangerous, the waves always crashing against the shore, as if warring with the land, trying to claim some of it back. The creatures didn’t help either. They liked to go to shore and drag their prey into the water.

  “Shh,” Elliot said, rubbing my back. “It’s okay. You’re okay. You’re safe.”

  I shook my head and whispered, “Idiot.”

  He paused from rubbing my back. “I’m an idiot?”

  “I don’t care about myself,” I said. “It’s you. I could’ve lost you if you had magic.” I tightened my grip around him, refusing to let him pull away from me like he wanted. He was here, in my arms, and still, my mind felt his loss. I kept imagining a life without Elliot, and it wasn’t one I wanted to live in.

  The what-ifs overwhelmed me, and I wasn’t sure how to get out of it. My mind kept conjuring up what life would be if he had magic, how he’d be alive, but he wouldn’t be him. I couldn’t stop thinking about it, my sharp and creative mind turning into a curse.

  I loved what-ifs. It made me good at my job. What if I took this ball and added in a little bit of magic so that it could do a super bounce? How high would it go? What if I mixed this herb with that one, tossed in a little bit of magic and let someone drink it? Would it add a layer of protection against their allergy to the sun? What if this gun could be recalibrated to shoot out a stream of magic that could temporarily freeze a person’s nervous system? Would they be easier to catch? Those were the what-ifs that I enjoyed.

  But this. What if Elliot had magic? What if I was here with Ami? What if I was weaker? Those were not the questions I wanted to ask, and yet I kept thinking them.

  “Stop,” Elliot said and forced me to let go. “Stop thinking like that. I don’t have magic. I’m human and I’m alive.” He grabbed my hand and placed it on his chest, right where his heart thumped.

  I felt each beat and without thinking about it, my own heart synchronized with his. Strong and steady. He was okay. He was safe. “I’m sorry.”

  Elliot grinned. “Don’t ever be sorry for worrying about me. I’m flattered. Means I mean something to you. Now, are you feeling better? How about we try to figure out what happened and what we can do to help?”

  I looked up at him, noting the tightness around his eyes, his own worry etched into the lines between his brows. “Are you feeling okay?” I asked.

  His jaw clenched and he looked away but whatever he saw wasn’t a better scene so his eyes snapped back to my face, focusing on my nose. “I’m fine.”

  “Liar.”

  He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Laila, whatever happened sucked out magic. You may have already forgotten, but I haven’t. You were withering on the ground, screaming, trying to claw at yourself. You have magic. Maybe you’re fine because you’re too strong or because of your elementalist background, but it’s easy to say, you could be just like everyone else here.” He stopped and his mouth snapped shut, his eyes wide, filling with panic.

  “I’m fine,” I said. “I’m alive too.”

  “That may be so, but the difference is that you have magic. I don’t.” He pointed to a man standing alone, eyes open, unblinking. “That could have easily been you.”

  My shoulders slumped. He was right. I could have been one of them. I shivered. This was too much.

  “Incoming,” Elliot said and stepped in front of me, his muscles tense, shoulders squared. He looked ready to take down all our threats and right now that looked to be the enforcers who charged toward us.

  Two of them stomped over with similar stormy expressions. They were out for death and the way their eyes trained on me, I was pretty sure it was mine. The first man stood taller than everyone in the clearing, his eyes glowing. Magic snapped through the air with a soft crackle. I hadn’t even known magic could make noise like his did. Strands of his hair flickered between black and red, and I focused on that as they came closer. The second guy trailed behind, but I felt nothing from him. He was a human.

  The real threat was the first enforcer, ready to tear my head off.

  “Stop right there, Enforcer Zol!” A familiar voice boomed across the field.

  The two enforcers halted, the first one’s chest rising and falling as if he’d sprinted. His eyes stayed trained on me as he planned my death and decided what to do with my body.

  I had to tear my eyes away to look at the man who had called out to them as he stalked toward us. He was my height, slightly taller, with a lean frame. His dark hair was shorter than the last time I’d seen him, and his tamed beard was still well cared for. His expression was just as angry as the enforcer before us, but he did better at hiding all his real thoughts. I was sure he wanted to tear my head off too, though his anger wasn’t outright aimed at me.

  “Captain Tautman,” I said.

  “Dr. Porter. Why am I not surprised?”

  I glanced back at Enforcer Zol before completely focusing on Tautman, tossing him a confused look. “Excuse me?”

  “You’re at the middle of this. I know you are.” His hard voice turned sharp and accusing as he stepped closer, putting himself between Zol and me. Elliot still refused to move, so I had to talk around him as he and Zol glared at each other.

  Keeping my voice neutral, I asked, “And what exactly is this?”

  “Tell me something, Dr. Porter, why are you fine? Anyone with a drop of magic turns into a vegetable. You’re well.”

  The accusation in his voice twisted my stomach and guilt stabbed through me.

  “Not for a lack of trying. I lost some, but nothing that can’t be refilled.”

  “Laila, don’t answer his questions,” Elliot said.

  I frowned. “Why not? I want to help.”

  “That may be so,” Elliot said in a careful voice. “But the enforcers have theories and without knowing what they are, don’t answer their questions.”

  My expression hardened as I focused on Tautman. He didn’t even care that I knew I was a suspect. I opened my mouth, ready to give him a lashing, and then closed it, clenching my teeth until my gums hurt.

  “Fine,” I finally said. “Captain Tautman, without a representative with me, I will not be answering your questions.”

  “You realize that only makes you look guilty?” Tautman pushed. “Families need answers, and you might have them.”

  The guilt card. He was playing the guilt card and damn it, it was working.

  “At least tell us this. Will these victims be able to recover?” The tone in his voice said it all. I wasn’t a victim. I survived, after all.

  “No,” I answered.

  Enforcer Zol growled and stepped forward. Tautman used his body to keep him back, though I didn’t think as a mage, he was much of a match against a fae if it came down to strength. At least the reminder of his presence did work as Enforcer Zol stopped trying to push past Tautman to get to me.

  “Explain,” Tautman snapped out.

  “Laila, don’t,” Elliot warned and pressed me back, trying to get me to
leave.

  “No. They need to know,” I said.

  “It’ll incriminate you.”

  I snorted. “If they think basic knowledge is reason enough, then they need a new job.”

  Elliot groaned at my blatant disrespect for the enforcers. Calling them dumb wasn’t the smartest thing to do, but I couldn’t help it. They were going to try to pin this on me. I could see it.

  “To answer your question, Captain Tautman, they won’t be able to recover because they don’t have a single spec of magic inside of them. Even if you were to toss them into a vat of magic, their body won’t take it in. What attracts magic is more magic. When we came into existence, magic mixed in with our very essence and allowed us to have control over it, whatever way that represented itself. Take every piece of magic out of a person, and they aren’t able to attract more any longer. Every person standing there like a vegetable has completely lost the ability to use magic, and because it was in their very DNA, it has broken their bodies. They’re lost.”

  Tautman’s nose flared as he worked through his fury. When he collected himself, he said, “We are in quarantine until we can find how this was done. We don’t know if it’s airborne or a device, or if people within its ‘blast’ zone can carry it. Hell, it could be a virus for all we know. No one leaves.”

  He stomped away, shoving Enforcer Zol and his friend away with him.

  My shoulders slumped as the tension drained out of me.

  “This isn’t good,” I said.

  “Laila. I’m serious. Do not speak to them again without a representative. Lombardi already knows what’s going on and is working to get our company’s lawyer here. If they can pin this on you, they will, and we won’t be able to stop them if the enforcers turn against us.”

  “So, don’t piss them off too much or Biomystic will step aside and let them hang me?”

  “You know that won’t happen. We’ll fight. But we will lose. There are a lot more enforcers than there are BMS employees, and they’re all just as powerful. This is an attack against Springer City. The enforcers’ protective sides are screaming at them to save the city. Even against threats that aren’t threats.”